So we’re gonna be looking at the major pentatonic, that’s where we’re gonna start. pentatonic scales have been used in music for, for obviously  ages, dunno, dunno exactly how long, but ages. and there’s a reason for that because the pentatonic penta meaning five, it’s a five note scale.
within the major scale there are five notes that, uh, you can improvise in. And as the chords change within that key, within that track, these five notes tend to fit in quite well, to all of the chords that you can play. whereas two other notes that are left out, they tend to clash a bit more. So it’s really good to work on a pentatonic scale initially as we improvise to give us that sense of actually feeling like we’re not gonna clash with much as we work around this.
And then we can get more adventurous using, notes outside the pentatonic scale. so that’s why we’re using the major pentatonic initially. It just gives us that sense of ease when we’re working on it. Â So what are we going to be covering today? Well, we’re gonna be covering the major pentatonic scale. and we’re gonna be singing it quite a bit to reinforce it. And it is a very simple scale. There are, uh, there’s a musical cue that everyone generally knows, that we can remember it by.
We will be applying that to, root notes. So, within a key, there’s the, the number one, the interval one, the root, the root note. And if we reinforce that root note, Â then we can improvise better. And that’s also gonna be part of singing this pentatonic scale is to, to reinforce, how to sing the root note. and then moving forward on from that, we’re gonna be doing some guided improvisation, Â which is where we are gonna start to, use cues if you like, to stimulate change.
And that is, as much as improv is, let’s say off the cuff, there’s no plan. Guided improvisation gives you an opportunity to kind of come off plan slightly, but with cues that keep the structure in it. So, so it’s not just like, oh, there you go, just sing, just sing and see how it goes.
It’s more about now sing, but now change this, this, this, and we can guide you through that improvisational moment. and then after that, we are gonna be putting it all together looking, very briefly at how it relates to, uh, stable tones and active tones. And if you’re familiar with those, then  please do, uh, get involved. If you’re not familiar with what stable and active tones are, then don’t worry, I will cover what they are in brief, a bit later  on.
So  why would you need this? Well, when we improvise a lot, we can in inspire creativity because if we know, if we know how to get involved in a little bit of improvisation, we can start to search around tracks in terms of melody, and that can bring about new ideas. It can get us out of sort of samey ruts that we might sing in, which is very common for singers. You know, we tend to get, quite locked into the, the, the music we know, the styles we know, or even the singers that we have known and, and unknowingly imitate or are influenced by.
and so sometimes that can bring about what some singers describe as I just seem to sing stuff and it sounds all the same. So if we can, give us a way of getting out of what might feel like a bit of a block, then, then this is part of how we can do that. Â To be comfortable improvising within a key, I think for songwriters is incredibly important.
Not just because really when we are writing songs and we’re coming up with melodies, we are just improvising until we come up with something that we like. so, uh, I know for a lot of singers, especially if you’re working with someone who you might consider to be highly musical or really if you really respect their musicianship, sometimes if we’re not used to improvising within a key, well then in a songwriting session, I’ve seen it happen before where people get very self-conscious, start going out, tune a little bit and feel like, Â feel like they shrink a little bit.
And I would love to give you something that allows you to practice this skill in a, in a methodical way that allows you to jump into a track and start humming out melodies. But you’re so secure that you know what key you’re in, you know where that root note is, and you know that you’re not gonna be going outta tune that much because, because you’ve practiced this before. and and inevitably when we explore improvisation like this across keys, we will explore emotional effects in melody, Â which is what relates to the stable and active tones I was talking about just now.
 And of course, if we do this, we’re gonna underpin riffs and ornaments, which, are, might be relevant to actually many musical styles. Obviously riffs very common to, r and b, to soul, to blues, to all those, kind of black music derivatives. but when we come to ornaments, they might be more suitable for things like, folk music.
So there is a, there is, app application in all musical styles that have come, that you might be writing in at the moment. Now, you don’t need to be a musician, to do this, although it’s great for singers to have a level of musicianship, right? but it does help when you’re going down the line to have basic knowledge of triads and major scales  or the major scale just to, just to kind of know what, what the basic intervals are in a, in a major key, for this.
So that, that would be great going down the line. It’s something to look at if you’re not familiar with it.  So let’s get into the major pentatonic,  and this is the pentatonic structure, okay?  Now, we are gonna be singing using the structure, and by all means, this will be on the screen the whole time, and you can follow it with your finger.  So the, the major pentatonic structure we are gonna be in, uh, G major today  and G major is, is often low enough for female voices and not too high for male voices to be able to sing in a, in a light sort of volume.
That’s why I’ve chosen G Major, so we can all be in the same key. so within a pentatonic structure for this  major pentatonic is the first, the second, the third, which is  then we have five, six,  and there are five notes, 1, 2, 3, 5, 6.
 And then, because it helps with singing it, for this purpose,  we’re gonna go to  the next octave. So we will hit the one again. So it’ll sound like this.  Now, the common one for that is  My girl,  ah, got sunshine on a cloudy day.
That’s, the intro to Migo uses that pentatonic move, uh, on the way up. So that can be a reminder of, oh, hang on, what, what is the pentatonic, uh, structure again? but if you play a bit of piano or know a little bit of that, then from this, uh, workshop, and you can go back and review the workshop as well. I’m, I’m thinking with your membership, or find one on YouTube. There’s a lot of pentatonic, uh, scales that are played on YouTube that you could follow. Â So that’s our structure.
We are gonna be singing that a lot. So just to get familiar with it, Â just sing it on u just go, Ooh, Again with me. Ooh, Okay, we’ll come back to that a lot, but don’t worry. Â Now, in order to build on this, that’s the pentatonic scale in its structure and just getting familiar with it.
Now, if we are gonna, we’re gonna strip this back to what’s important, we are gonna reinforce the root note  before we do much else.  And the root note for us, obviously in G Major is the, the g  Ooh. And we are gonna be on G three for the musicians between G three and G four, okay?  So that, that note there. Ooh, everyone sing that.  Ooh.
And just get stuck in on that note, right? Let it ring out in your head, even if you’re not singing it. Now, imagine it, Â Ooh, Â Now keep singing that single note as I play these chords, right? So you sing that single G, and I’m just gonna move the chords around because I really want you to feel how that note remains stable, remains solid across the, uh, the chords of G Major.
So just sing who, Â big breath. Â And when we get back to that GE chord, on the top of the sequence, you suddenly hear the G note and the g chord resolve.
